U.S. Supreme Court backs Google over Oracle in major copyright case

FILE PHOTO: The brand logo of Alphabet Inc's Google is seen outside its office in Beijing, China August 8, 2018. Picture taken with a fisheye lens. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo

(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court handed Alphabet Inc's Google a major victory on Monday, ruling that its use of Oracle Corp's software code to build the Android operating system that runs most of the world's smartphones did not violate federal copyright law.

In a 6-2 decision, the justices overturned a lower court's ruling that Google's inclusion of Oracle's software code in Android did not constitute a fair use under U.S. copyright law.